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NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — A judge appointed a public defender and scheduled a March 3 preliminary hearing for a Nellis Air Force Base technical sergeant held in the slaying of his wife during what he told police was a domestic argument.

Rickey Lee Massey Jr. appeared Monday on a murder charge in North Las Vegas Justice Court.

He’s accused of strangling Theresa Rivera late Jan. 16 and leaving her body in their garage.

Rivera’s two children from an earlier marriage were at school when base security officers found the body Jan. 17.

Officers found Massey asleep in the house. He later told police he took sleeping pills after a physical fight with his wife the night before.

Massey deployed four times during his 13-year Air Force career. He’s an equipment maintenance supervisor at Nellis.

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